The first all-private team of astronauts arrived safely at the International Space Station on Saturday to begin a week-long mission hailed as a milestone in commercial spaceflight.
The rendezvous came about 21 hours after the four-man team representing Houston-based startup company Axiom Space lifted off on Friday from the Kennedy Space Center.
The Crew Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station at about 8.30am on Saturday, as the two space vehicles flew 250 miles above the central Atlantic Ocean.
The final approach was delayed by a technical glitch that disrupted a video feed used to monitor the capsule's rendezvous with the space station. The Crew Dragon was forced to hold its position for 45 minutes while mission control worked through the glitch.
It was expected to take about two hours more for the sealed passageway between the space station and crew capsule to be pressurized and checked for leaks, so that the newly arrived astronauts could come aboard.
Michael Lopez-Alegria, the company's vice-president for business development, was the leader of the team.
The second-in-command was Larry Connor, a real estate and technology entrepreneur from Ohio who was designated as the mission pilot. The company did not give a precise age forConnor, who is in his 70s.
An image of a star by thousands of ancient galaxies.
A Canadian businessman and philanthropist, Mark Pathy, 52, and an investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot, Eytan Stibbe, 64, were both serving as mission specialists.
Ilan Ramon was the second Israeli to fly to space after he died in the Columbia disaster.
Three American astronauts, a German astronauts, and three Russian cosmonauts will be joining the existing crew of seven regular, government-paid space station crew members.
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